Newer Eden stuff as good as the older stuff?

Thinking about throwing my budgetary plans out the window and one of the amps I'm looking at is a used WT550. The thing is, I've been out of the scene for a while and I'm not up on the changes with some of the companies like Eden. I know they've changed ownership at least once and David Nordschow isn't with them any more. How is the quality of the new stuff like the WT550? Is it even made in the US anymore? If it isn't I'll stick with my other budget busting choice and get a used Walkabout. I *know* those are a safe bet.

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I have a few Eden amps. An original 1998 WT400 that has been rock solid since purchased in '98 and I have recently been trying the WTX light weight line. They are made in China and so far after 2 years have proved to be as reliable as my WT400. I personally like the Eden tone and enjoy the WTX500 on my weekly gigs in a rock / alt cover band. It pairs well with my Bergantino AE410. I also have a Walkabout that I use for more vintage tones. I wouldn't discriminate against country of origin either. I would recommend you listen to both the Walkabout and the Eden WT550 as they are very different tones. The WT550 is a much more clean and controlled sound both down low and up high. The Walkabout nails that tube quality found mostly in all tube bass amps. Rich harmonics and breaks up nicely for low gain duty.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend buying Eden new today but there was a time where their quality had dropped and customer service was virtually non existent during one of their acquisitions. The reputation that was destroyed during this period was sadly never regained again. I'm not sure but I believe that period was from 2004/5-09 ish. You may want to do your research to avoid buying used in that period.

Eden has most recently been purchased by Marshall and there have been very positive customer service threads dealing with Marshall since the acquisition over on the Eden Forum site.

I wouldn't worry about the place of manufacture anymore.
That ship has unfortunately long since sailed.
There's none that I can name that are "totally" built from U.S. manufactured parts.
Most amps available in the U.S. are "designed and assembled" here with the parts coming from everywhere.
Some manufacturers amps will have it printed on their chassis, "designed and assembled in the U.S.A."

The simple answer is 'no'. Eden really hit the bottom a few years ago, and product like the WT1250 were very poorly received. Service and support went to almost nothing over the past 5 years.

However, since Marshall purchased them a year ago or so, there MIGHT be some hope for that brand (which I agree was an industry standard for over a decade prior to the sale of the company. I have heard very little about the impact of the sale, but saw a post on some sort of DNA facebook page or something that the original owner/founder was doing some design/consulting work with the 'new Eden' (again, who knows if that post was accurate, but it came from Dave N. himself).

I would wait a year before considering anything from that brand at this point IMO.

From what I've heard they had a few problems with QC during the transition but I have also heard they seem to be back on track.

I don't think the stuff is assembled in the US anymore. I"ve had this discussion about the switching to forgien (sp?) assembly, as I was a bit bummed at the time, on the Eden forum a while back. I got the explanation that some of the QC (soldering, and assembly) was actually worse at the US facility than overseas. I was quite surprised!

You see more Genz Benz or GK amp trouble threads than you do Eden trouble threads, if that counts for anything. It could be that no one is buying them, or it could be that their quality is as good as anyone else's (this is my opinion).

If it were me and I was looking, I'd go for an older US made Eden. They are inexpensive and they are built to last, unlike many of the newer lightweight heads are.

You see more Genz Benz or GK amp trouble threads than you do Eden trouble threads, if that counts for anything. It could be that no one is buying them, or it could be that their quality is as good as anyone else's (this is my opinion).

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Even though I'm a big fan of Eden products I believe this is a case where the people who frequent this forum are not Eden users. From what I've been able to ascertain from all the sites I've found discussing Eden equipment, Eden quality is on par with all the others. Only the odd problems that vary in magnitude seemingly related to quality control. Ampeg (PFseries) and GK (MBseries) seem to have more consistent repeat issues of the same problems with some of their units that range from minor to major faults.

This is why I can't tell others to pass Eden buy if they like the pro sound, feel, and touch of Eden products.

Along with Markbass, KJung is a big endorser of Genz products, and with good cause. Their products are excellent and their customer service history is excellent. I personally have tried a few of Genz' latest offerings and they're just not my sound. Everyone's different.

At this point I can see no reason to steer away from Eden if that's what you like. In North America companies are obligated to provide warranties with their products. If one were to have an issue with an Eden, they would still get warranty service.

I would have to say those big power resistors used to drop the voltage for the preamps was a quality design feature! Melting solder, burnt PCBs and intermittent operation are high quality repeated on many models

I would have to say those big power resistors used to drop the voltage for the preamps was a quality design feature! Melting solder, burnt PCBs and intermittent operation are high quality repeated on many models

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You do have a point there. However, that design was on all of the WTseries even the ultra reliable 90's ones. To this day most of them are still running problem free. Despite the questionable design, they for the most part seem to be reliable.

B-String is referring to a design issue on the WT's where given a certain set of circumstances some resisters that were mounted directly on the circuit board could get hot enough to damage their own soldier connections. Here's a link:

The WT550 does not share that same design of having the preamp power drop resisters mounted to the circuit board as the WT550 was the final design evolution of the WT300 and that issue was corrected from what I can tell.

The power resistor issue doesn't worry me even if the WT550 still used them. I've seen the mod that's been listed on TalkBass to mount better resistors on the chassis and I've got enough electronics experience, that I wouldn't hesitate to do that if I bought a used amp that needed it.

The WT550 is still one of the best amplifiers on the market. Such sweet tone, and plenty of power, especially with the ability to run at 2 ohms.

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Gigged a WT400 for almost a decade. +1 Great box, and the WT550 is nice also. No issue on the original design and tone. SO much bad happened over the past 5 or 6 years, and very little information about what Marshall is going to do with the brand.

I'm hoping they do bring that brand back to at least some of its past glory. Still very valid designs (assuming the inside of the WT550 looks relatively similar to the original.

Gigged a WT400 for almost a decade. +1 Great box, and the WT550 is nice also. No issue on the original design and tone. SO much bad happened over the past 5 or 6 years, and very little information about what Marshall is going to do with the brand.

I'm hoping they do bring that brand back to at least some of its past glory. Still very valid designs (assuming the inside of the WT550 looks relatively similar to the original.

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Yeah I've spent a lot of time with various Eden heads and love them to death. It was sad to see the downfall over the last few years. I'm with you in hoping that Marshall does something great with them.

The Walkabout idea is solid, too. Great sounding amp, (the best imo), BUT, at 300 watts, many find it's not quite powerful enough. It works for me, but only paired with larger cabs, not the Scout 12 combo.

A couple years ago, I picked up an Eden Nemesis RS700 bass head - right here in the TalkBass classifieds. For those who are unacquainted, Nemesis was Eden's brand of "budget" amps & cabs that they started up in 1996, and finally discontinued just a few years ago.

I currently own a Nemesis NC210 combo amp in addition to the RS700 head, and I can tell you that while the cabs probably deserve the label of "budget", the amps are a very pleasant surprise - with a sweet Eden-like tone that can definitely compete with some of Eden's finest in terms of features & overall quality.

In fact, Ken checked out an RS700 at Don Oatman's Low Down Sound store several years ago, and was very favorably impressed. So am I. The RS700 is wonderful amp - very musical, very flexible - with a warm, phat, clean tone and abundant power.

Unfortunately the Nemesis line is now completely defunct, but individual Nemesis pieces still pop up every now and then on the aftermarket. See if you can snag an NA650, an RS700, or an EN700 - and you'll be golden.

You guys are scaring me, I just got my first Eden (a WT405 from 2007 NOS and still under original warranty). Only had it a few days. I've been comparing with my Walkabout for sound but I hadn't given much thought to reliability, I've always considered the brand to be top notch.
Nice tight little bottom and creature comfort features like mute, compression and headphone outs are wooing me. The Walkabout has never given me trouble.